As The Wall Street Journal recently demonstrated, the hosts of the Fox and CBS NFL pregame shows do a lot of laughing. With that in mind, we've reduced Sunday's programs to their essence—dudes chuckling over something or other.

That's a lot of laughter, a great deal of which seems wholly unwarranted. Just what is so funny to these guys? Going by audience response alone, you'd think Boomer Esiason's inability to make his game picks and Howie Long's Jack Nicholson-in-The Departed impression are funnier than a Lenny Bruce-Mitch Hedberg double bill. That seems doubtful.